Professor John Wallwork, the pioneering transplant surgeon who performed Europe's first successful heart-lung transplant in 1984, has said there is no 'magical' solution to the UK's healthcare problems. The 77-year-old, who is stepping down as chair of a Cambridge NHS trust, warned that patients have been given an 'expectation of almost immortality'.
Speaking to the BBC, Prof Wallwork said the NHS was 'fundamentally a good system' but that an ageing population had increased demand. 'People had been given an expectation of almost immortality - which is not right,' he said. 'We have to work out how to balance all these things.'
Prof Wallwork retired as a consultant surgeon in 2011 and became chair of the Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2014. During his career, he also performed the world's first heart-lung and liver transplant in 1986 alongside Prof Sir Roy Calne, whom he described as 'one of the giants of transplantation'.
He said healthcare systems worldwide faced similar challenges and that medics could not do 'everything' for 'everybody' all the time. 'I have no magical answer on how to solve the healthcare problems at the moment,' he added.
Dr Jag Ahluwalia has taken over as chair of the trust, describing it as an 'honour' to succeed Prof Wallwork. Prof Wallwork said he had been associated with Papworth Hospital for more than 40 years and was leaving with a 'tinge of sadness'.
